KidzBelong Institute
Redefining Immigrant Identity
Niyati Kadakia
Founder, Lead writer

During the day, Niyati manages her tech startup and teaches yoga. At night she moonlights as a storyteller, spinning tales to answer the darnedest questions posed by her twin daughters and other first-generation immigrant kids. Her work is mostly inspired by her own experiences of being an immigrant student and then an immigrant mother in America. Her stories focus on questions, concerns and feelings children have as they are being raised by parents who grew up in a different culture than theirs, which encourages them to create their own unique identity that is whole and complete.
She founded KidzBelong Institute to meet a pressing need to have a one-stop destination for the needs of immigrant parents and children of immigrant families who are particularly vulnerable to feeling marginalized and different. KidzBelong offers a starting point of discussion for families around difficult topics like identity, race, home, rootedness, patriotism, culture and heritage.
Niyati holds a BS in Biochemical Engineering from USC, BA in Literature from Scripps College, MA in Biotechnology from Columbia University. She is a Certified Yoga instructor and holds a certificate for Engineering Health and Yoga Physiology from NYU.
She lives with her husband and twin daughters in Encinitas, California.